Police pushing a proposed crackdown on escort services

WESTON (WAOW) -
The Village of Weston's Public Safety Committee considered a plan Monday night to regulate escort services.

Everest Metro Police presented an ordinance that would require escort services to be licensed, but more work needs to be done before the Village Board will take a vote.

Police say prostitution is a problem in the area that can be hard to find.

"A lot of these sites that are advertising on the Internet say they're for escort services but are actually being used for sexual favors," said Clayton Schulz, a captain in the Everest Metro Police Department.

That's why police are proposing escort services need a license to operate legitimately. They've pushed this idea through to the Village of Weston.

"There's an application process. There's a fee. You're going to have to be essentially licensed as a business," Schulz said.

Police say the ordinance would be another tool to investigate prostitution.

"It's going to be a difficult thing for someone who is actually in the business of prostitution to successfully accomplish," said Schulz.

Under the plan, simply posting an advertisement for an escort would be illegal unless the business is registered.

"So if we would solicit one of them from one of the ads we saw, the minute they walked in the door, if we were conducting a prostitution sting, we would already know they're in violation," Schulz said.

Violators would face a pretty hefty penalty. Specifics are still being ironed out, but police officials suggested a first-time offense would carry a fine of $1,600. The second offense would be $2,600.

The Village Public Safety Committee asked police to come up with a final draft to vote on later.

The chair of the committee, Fred Schuster, said he doesn't detect any opposition to the idea. He's just waiting to see what the final draft looks like.

A former Rothschild policeman accused of breaking into a woman's home and having sex with her while pretending to be her boyfriend successfully completed a probation and a judge Monday reduced a felony to a misdemeanor, according to online Marathon County court records.

A former Rothschild policeman accused of breaking into a woman's home and having sex with her while pretending to be her boyfriend successfully completed a probation and a judge Monday reduced a felony to a misdemeanor, according to online Marathon County court records.